It's a sin
by Enide Dear
Summary: Vincent makes a huge mistake, and have to gamble everything to win Cid back
1. Chapter 1

Title: It's a Sin

Author: Enide Dear

Rating: Swearing, explicit sex, infidelity and some violence. Not necessarily in that order

Pairing: Cid/Vincent, Reno/Vincent

Summary: Vincent is cheating on Cid. Oh, no! *gasp*

Authors' note: Yeah, I know there's been a lot of Reno in my fics lately but he's just such a recipe for catastrophe that I can't help but use him as a catalyst *grins*

Muse: Pet Shop Boys lyrics: 'Cause everything I longed to do, no matter when or where or who, has this thing in common to: It's a Sin.

Feedback: Will be adored and squeed over

Who spiked the punch at their own birthday party, anyway? Vincent wondered groggily as he navigated as best as he could through the crowded room. Tifa's bar was filled to the brim with people that had come to celebrate Cid's thirty-third birthday; all of Avalanche was there and most of Rocket Town had showed up. Vincent, who had secretly hoped for a quiet romantic dinner for the two of them, tried to put up a brave face when realising that Cid wasn't going to settle for less than the blow-out of the century, but he couldn't hide the fact that he wasn't at all comfortable in large groups of people. He felt awkward and freaky, and despite what Cid had told him about 'anyone who ain't happy for the two of us can go fuck themselves with a sharp stick, 'cause they ain't my friends' Vincent had the nagging worry that people were eyeing the couple in an odd way. Well, he couldn't really say himself how it had happened, and kept happening, and showed no signs of stopping; he just knew that by now he loved Cid and needed the burly captain by his side as he'd never needed another person in his life. Cid was the only one who could handle the scars he carried – outside and in – and the only one Vincent could bring himself to completely trust after Hojo's torments.

"Ya alright there, Vince?" Cid appeared out of nowhere, grinning happily and perhaps even more drunk than even Vincent was. But there were sincere caring in his sparkling eyes as he threw an arm around his lover, backed him up to the wall and mumbled:

"It's alright if ya wanna leave for awhile, ya know. Get away from the crowd. Just don't go too far, alright? I have a surprise for ya later."

Vincent kissed him back and smiled, as always touched to the core of his being with Cid's caring, even when drunk, and even on his own birthday.

"No, I'll stay." He put on a brave face. "I stayed by your side fighting Sephiroth, so I'm not going to run away from your friends."

"Ha, some of these people make Sephiroth look like a sissy, am I right?" Cid punched a huge burly guy on the shoulder and was promptly swept of into the throng of people once more, leaving Vincent alone. Vincent smiled after the disappearing back; as always just the knowledge that Cid was around made him feel better. He managed to move away from the wall and continue his drunken stumble across the room. Yes, he loved Cid, as much as he'd ever loved anyone, and perhaps even more, but…

…he still wished that Cid hadn't spiked the drinks, that he hadn't invited all these people, and that he'd allow Vincent to put a bullet through the stereo that howled awful country music…

"Yo, Vincent!" He was suddenly brought up short by three impeccably dressed Turks and one who seemed to have slept in his suit. But proper or not, they were all even more drunk than he was. Vincent frowned. He was quite certain Cid hadn't invited Turks, which meant they had crashed the party. He sighed. He couldn't say it surprised him.

"Reno. Rude. Elena. Tschreng." His tongue blurred over the last name and he cursed himself when they all burst out laughing – not cruelly but the giggles and howls of the genuinely plastered.

"Sit down, man." Reno kicked out a chair for him, and there wasn't much for it. If he was Cid's partner he couldn't be rude – he smiled weakly at the bad joke – to Cid's guests. Not that these people were really guests. It all got too confusing for his alcohol marinated brain and he sat down just to get the decision over with.

"You crashed Cid's party." He said blandly.

"Not at all!"

"Us? Never!"

"We even brought a present!"

"We brought two, but Rude refused to come along unless he was allowed to wear pants…"

"Very funny, Reno." Rude could barely be heard of the screeches of laughter.

Vincent pressed his fingers against his eyes, glad they were already red. They'd be bloodshot tomorrow.

Someone elbowed him in the side.

"Look. Your husband is cheating on you!" Reno grabbed his arm and shook it, pointing eagerly to the dance floor where Cid was scuffling around with Shera.

"It's Shera." Vincent said, pointing out the obvious in case Reno missed it. "And we're not married."

"Yeah, so? You're not jealous?"

Vincent only shrugged. *Am I jealous because my lover, the gayest man on the planet, is trying not to step on the toes of a woman he loves like a sister? No, not really, Reno…*

"Ah, good! So then he wont mind if I ask you to dance, right?"

That took some time to process * - What? Me? Dance?- * and by the time he'd come up with the proper response it was too late. Reno had already grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him to his feet, giggling like mad. The rest of the Turks just cheered them on and that didn't help.

Fortunately, Cid and Shera had disappeared in the mass of people when they reached the dance floor, and Vincent only had to suffer a few curious stares from Tifa and Yuffie. Something sappy and slow was playing, the words of which would probably have reduced normal brain cells to putty, but no one could hear it anyway for all the talking, cheering and loud noise in the room. Reno threw one arm over Vincent's shoulder and grabbed his human hand with the other.

"C'm on. Show me what you got!" He grinned with easy charm.

Groaning inwardly, Vincent started to move as carefully as his current state allowed. To his surprise, Reno followed smoothly. He took a few more steps of the admittingly very old-fashioned dancing that was the only kind he knew. Reno stepped along, smooth as silk, still grinning, undeterred by the annoyance on the ex-Turks face.

That annoyance started to melt away as they danced on, Vincent leading and Reno following as if they'd never done anything else. This was very different from dancing with Cid, for one thing because he and Cid never could come to terms with who should lead and who should follow, which meant that their dancing usually turned to pushing, shoving and improvised wrestling within minutes. And Cid always stepped on his toes, although that didn't matter so much because of the metal plating.

Even more surprisingly, Reno did keep his hands to himself. Vincent wasn't comfortable with physical contact with most people, but Reno was...respectful. He kept his hands where they should be – on Vincent's shoulder and in his hand. He didn't rub up against Vincent or try to make a scene in any way. They just danced, and when the song ended, the younger man stepped away and did a rather stumbling bow.

"Thank you very much, kind sir." He smiled and Vincent found himself tentatively smiling back. "Now if you excuse me, I'll have to go for a piss and a smoke. In that order."

"I'll go with you. I need to get away from all this people for awhile." Let Cid have his fun without having to worry about his partner being miserable.

Reno just shrugged a 'whatever, man' but his smile was friendly enough so Vincent followed him through the crowd.

The bathroom was a small room, just one cubicle and a sink and a small cupboard to keep towels and spare toilet paper in, but it was blissfully bereft of people as the two of them walked in there. Reno went first, and then stayed on, waiting for Vincent, sitting on the cupboard and waving an unlit cigarette as Vincent came out of the cubicle.

"Bet you got a light," Reno smiled and Vincent nodded, getting the lighter out of his pocket. He leaned forward towards Reno to light the cigarette and suddenly, suddenly everything to happened at once.

Suddenly there was no cigarette and no lighter; suddenly he pressed his lips against Reno's and they were warm and welcoming and their tongues slipped wetly over one another's. Reno pulled at his shirt, opening it, his hands very different from Cid's broad, callused hands, and Vincent was janking at the young Turk's pants, pulling them down over slim hips. Hungry, eager and clumsy with drunkenness they grabbed for each other, wanting it all, wanting it now. Vincent managed to get Reno's pants down over his boots; he leaned the slender man down over the cupboard as Reno grabbed for him, pulling him closer, and suddenly he was inside Reno – does he go around all lubed up, or is it only for parties? came Vincent's foggy thought – and he was warm and tight and welcoming and easy as Vincent buried himself inside him, riding him hard and rough.

Reno moaned and grabbed for him, urging him on, faster and harder, whispering obscenities and encouragement under his breath. It was so easy, so simple and human and easy, with no emotions involved but lust and hunger and Vincent let himself drown in those feelings as Reno squirmed and panted beneath him.

"Gods, yes, Vincent…." Reno moaned as he came, pushing hard against Vincent's belly and then falling back with a breathless laugh to let Vincent finish inside him. Vincent moved forward, ready to pound inside the willing body when suddenly Reno froze.

"Oh, shit," he whispered in a small voice.

Vincent turned around.

Cid was standing in the doorway, his mouth agape, his eyes as stunned as if he'd been hit with a poleaxe. His gaze went from Reno to Vincent's red non-demon eyes, searching for a way to comprehend, to explain to understand, finding nothing but betrayal. The hurt that welled up inside the pilot and buried his blue gaze in unsheds tears made Vincent suddenly, horrified aware of what he was doing. The shock hit him almost as bad as it had Cid and cold terror seized him.

"I…Cid…" he reached out for his lover almost pushing Reno to the floor with the sudden motion, but Cid's knees seemed to buckle; the captain made a strange sound and turned around, slamming the door behind him.

"Cid, no!" Horrified Vincent tried to run for him, but stumbled on his pants that had fallen around his knees; tearing at them he was vaguely aware of Reno pulling at his own pants all the while muttering:

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," under his breath.

Cid barged into the bar, pushing aside people without even seeing them, not even hearing the worried calls and questions thrown after him. Confused and surprised at the unexpected assault, nobody thought of stopping him as he rushed towards the door, but as Vincent stumbled out of the bathroom, clutching at his pants a cold sober silence settled over the room, despite the stereo's blasting. Vincent didn't seem to see anyone; he just stumbled across the room after Cid, but the captain could move quickly when he wanted to. When Vincent reached the door, the sound of the Tiny Bronco's engines were already loud in the bar.

"Cid! Cid, I'm sorry!" Vincent yelled as he threw the doors open and stumbled out, leaving the room in death silence as someone had finally managed to kill the music.

The bathroom door opened again and a dishelved and frightened Reno came out, recoiling slightly at the furious glares thrown his way.

"What? What did I do?" He said defensively. "It's not as if I fucking raped him or something…"

"You little bastard!" Tifa exploded into fury and sprang at him, but Rude was quicker; he managed to reach his partner before the enraged martial artist and hit Reno straight across the face, splitting his lip and nose and felling him to the floor.

"Stupid idiot!" he growled, pulling Reno up by his shirt.

"Rude, what the Hell?!" Reno protested through his swollen lips.

"Shut up. If I hadn't hit you Tifa would have. And then we could have picked up whatever was left of you on the other side of that wall." Rude muttered into his ear as Tseng and Elena closed up beside them. Reno took one glance over at the enrage woman and promptly shut his mouth.

The four Turks were suddenly in the midst of a highly pissed-off crowd; Avalanche was closer and they certainly looked like they were after blood – even Nanaki, who nobody but Avalanche could remember being anything but gentle and patience, now growled and his fiery tail swung in the air. A single look at Reeve made certain that there was no help to be found there; ShinRa meant nothing to him, not if his Avalanche members were hurt. And behind them stood all of Cid's friends; burly, short tempered mechanics already crackling their knuckles.

The door to the bar was suddenly kicked open again, every head in the bar turning towards it. Vincent came running in, whatever colour he usually had on his face now gone, his entire body shaking.

"I need a vehicle," he panted. "Who's the motorbike outside?"

"Mine," Reno spat blood. "Look, you can have it, but I want to come along and apologise to Cid…"

Vincent drew Cerebus, pressing the muzzle between Reno's eyes. The room suddenly got very silent.

"Keys," Vincent's eyes blazed yellow and his voice was an inhuman snarl.

*Fuck, he even pissed of Vincent's demons!* Tseng was the first to react; he shoved his hand down Reno's pant pocket so hard he almost tore the cloth, and threw the keys at Vincent who caught them with a rattle in his metal hand without even looking away from Reno. There were a demonic rage in him now, held barely at check and with a simple squeeze he could kill the young Turk.

"Here, take them! Just take them and hurry, before Cid gets away!" Tseng managed.

Cid's name seemed to make Vincent snap back into control. He spun, sheeted his gun, and ran out of the room; within seconds the sound of a bike tearing through the night could be heard, but soon it, too, was gone. Leaving only four frightened Turks and a room full of angry people.

"I think," Cloud said very slowly and carefully, as if trying to stop himself from saying anything else, "I think you'd better leave. Now." He had his huge Buster sword in his hand and the edge looked decisively non-argumentative. As did Nanaki's fangs, Barret's gun, Yuffie's shiruken and Tifa's fists. Hell, even Reeves megaphone was suddenly a very real threat.

"We're leaving, we're leaving," Tseng grabbed for Elena and Rude, who was still hanging on to Reno, pulling them away. After all, not even Turks messed with the people who had killed Sephiroth more than once.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: It's a Sin part 2/2

Author: Enide Dear

Rating: Swearing, explicit sex, infidelity and some violence. Not necessarily in that order

Pairing: Cid/Vincent, Cid/OMC

Summary: Don't send a boy to do a man's work

Authors' note: Yeah, I know there's been a lot of Reno in my fics lately but he's just such a recipe for catastrophe that I can't help but use him as a catalyst *grins*

Muse: Pet Shop Boys lyrics: 'Cause everything I longed to do, no matter when or where or who, has this thing in common to: It's a Sin.

Feedback: Will be adored and squeed over

The bike was fast, and Vincent rode it recklessly into the waste around Midgard, but it was, of course, no use. Single-mindedly desperate, he followed the tiny spec that was Cid's plane until it was swallowed up by the night sky and not even his red eyes could fool themselves into believing they saw it anymore.

As soon as it was out of sight and Vincent's focus faltered, his demons pounced on him, shrieking with glee. They tore into his mind, filling it with images of what he'd done, of Cid's betrayed face, of Reno's warm body, of his own treacherous actions, and he could just cling to his sanity by the nails. The bike started to skid from side to side as he quickly lost control, he slid over some loose gravel, bounced against a rock, and then he went down in a cacophony of engine roars and demon howls and his own blazing self-loathing.

When he awoke, Vincent lay still for a long while, just blinking and breathing and trying to move his aching body. A quick, instinctive mental check told him that nothing was broken, nothing too torn, and cuts and bruises were the worst of his aches. It was still nigh around him, and the bike's engine next to him was warm, so he couldn't have been passed out too long. Slowly he sat up and threw a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Stop trying to hide, Reno. My demons can smell you." He said wearily.

A very tense and frightened young face appeared behind a rocky outcrop, sparkling electric rod in hand, and coiled for flight or fight at the slightest threatening motion.

"Are you…all human, man?" Reno asked warily, clutching his rod.

"What do you think?" Vincent snapped and tried to get to his feet.

"I don't know." Reno edged reluctantly around the rock. "You've been snarling and growling and clawing at the ground since I got here." He licked his lips nervously. "Even now, your eyes are….well, they're flickering. In yellow."

"The demons. They get closer to the surface when I get upset. Cid used to..." he groaned, a sound that was only half-human, and buried his face in his hands. Reno backed away a few steps, but when Vincent looked up again, his eyes were still red. "What are you doing here, anyway? How did you get here?"

"Stole a car." Reno shrugged and moved closer again. "Been watching over you while you were…gone. The wastes are no place to be lying around unprotected. It can draw all kinds of nasties."

"Yes, I can see that." Muttering, Vincent came to his feet and started to salvage the bike. It seemed to be in the same state he was – battered and bruised but still working. "What happened to your face?"

"Rude hit me. I'll have to thank him for that later."

"What?"

"Never mind. Look, I came to apologise, a'right?" Reno shuffled his feet. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Vincent turned and his red-yellow eyes glowed in the dark. "What is this, some new Turk trick?"

For a second Reno looked genuinely hurt and very young. Then he said slowly, without looking away from Vincent.

"Just because I don't have what you guys have, or even thinks it makes much sense, doesn't mean I can appreciate it, or feel sorry I broke it."

Vincent's eyes turned red and he slumped over the bike.

"Reno…it wasn't your fault. I don't know and I don't care what kind of relationship you have with Rufus, or Rude or Tseng, or whoever. But Cid and I…he's the only one I trust, and he…trusted me…" Vincent's voice faltered away and he hunched over the bike as if hiding or hurt. A shake rattled his body, but when Reno tentatively reached out for him, he slapped the hand harshly aside.

"Don't touch me! I have to get to Rocket Town. I have to find Cid!" He kick started the bike, but Reno lounged for his arm.

"Vince! Wait!"

"You have no right calling me that! Get off me!"

"Alright, alright," Reno panted, still hanging on. "Just listen to me – Cid ain't going to Rocket Town!"

"What?"

"He's not going home, yo! He's not going to Rocket Town!"

Vincent's eyes suddenly blazed – red, green, cold violet, yellow, as all his demons fought his personality for dominion and he grabbed Reno by the shirt, lifting him effortlessly from the ground.

"Are you insinuating you know my Cid better than I do?" he growled.

"You are not thinking straight, damn it!" Reno struggled and kicked in vain. "And neither is he – he's hurt and angry. He ain't going home!"

"And you would know all about not thinking straight, don't you?" Vincent snarled but dropped him. His eyes were red again, but fringed with demonic yellow. "So where is he?"

"I'll tell you," Reno coughed on the ground, "if you let me come along, so I can apologise to him."

He looked up, and met the cold stare of Cerebus.

"Why do you care, Turk?" Vincent's voice was cold as death.

"Because I'm a Turk!" Reno spluttered, raising his hands in a non-threatening manner and rather pointlessly shuffling away to put a few yards between him and the hit man. "That's what we do – we fix things, we take care of problems. Especially if we caused them ourselves, a'right? And you…you are going to be a problem, aren't you? Your demons are. You need Cid to keep you fucking sane, man! I screwed that up, and now I must fix it. And….and…" He sighed. "I really want to tell him I'm sorry."

Slowly Vincent lowered the gun.

"Where did he go?" he asked wearily.

"I got a phone call from Rude about an hour ago. Cid must have turned around. He went back to Midgard."

"What? Why? Where?" Vincent startled.

"You'll let me come along?"

"Reno…yes. Just tell me. Before I loose all patience."

"He went to Sector Eight. He went to…to the Honey Bee Inn."

"The what?"

"The brothel, Vincent."

The words hit Vincent like a punch in the gut; gasping for air he almost fell of the bike. His mind – helped by the demons – assailed him with myriads of mental images of Cid, his Cid, naked underneath someone, or above someone, moaning, panting, laughing….

"No," He whispered, a whisper that rose to a cry. "Nononononono!" But he knew it was true; it made too much sense not to be true. He felt suddenly sick, achingly, horrifyingly sick and hurt and betrayed, but the real searing pain came from the knowledge that he'd brought this upon himself, that he deserved anything Cid might do. Because he, Vincent, had done so first.

When he looked up his eyes were more yellow than red.

"Get up," he growled at Reno who swallowed fear an scrambled on board the bike behind Vincent, gingerly putting his arms around the dark man's lean waist. He'd barely got a grip before Vincent wrestled the bike around and sped heedlessly back towards Midgard.

Vincent was off the bike and halfway up the stairs to the garishly lit brothel before the bike had even really stopped. The bouncers hurried to stop him – which would probably have meant their deaths – but Reno waved frantically with a ShinRa Inc business card and shouted:

"ShinRa business! Step aside!"

The bouncers hesitated long enough for the two of them to barge through the doors. The id – card was really just a napkin Reno had palmed in the dining room once, but it was white and it had the ShinRa logo so it looked official enough. From a distance.

Vincent didn't seem to notice the thick carpets or the lewd paintings on the walls as he ran up to the man behind the reception desk and tore him up to come face – to – face with the half demon ex-Turk.

"Where is he? Is he here?" Vincent snarled.

"What? Who?" the man flailed his arms helplessly.

"Vincent…put him down, man." Tensed for guards, Reno looked around as Vincent slowly lowered the man, who stumbled backwards, angry and frightened.

"Reno, what the Hell is this? If you Turks want to place another spy here again, this is no way of filing a job application!"

"No, I don't need a job this time, Kurt. Just listen – we need to find someone, and we think he might be here tonight. A pilot. Short, blond guy. You've seen him?"

"He's not that short!" Vincent snapped.

"You are sure you don't need a job? We still got customers asking for you, you know…" Kurt trailed of as Vincent drew Cerebus with a snarl. "The blond, testy guy? Mr Highwind?" He spluttered.

"Well, of course, Cid's the only one in the world who wouldn't use a fake name at a brothel." Reno rolled his eyes. "Yes, him."

"Came in about an hour ago. One strange customer – asked for our cheapest room and cheapest guy."

Reno's cheeks flushed, quite certain he knew what Cid meant by that. *I was fucking expensive, I'll have you know!* he thought angrily, but swallowed the thought.

"Third room on the second floor." Kurt pointed at the stairs and Vincent ran for them. "But – hey! You can't go up there!" He reached for the alarm button, but Reno was far quicker. The electric rod sparkled and Kurt leaped back, clutching his hand. Before he had time to protest, Reno clubbed him on the neck, sending him face down and unconscious on the carpet.

"Hope that won't affect my next salary discussion here," Reno muttered and hurried up after Vincent.

A young, average looking man came out of the third room, counting out quite a lot more gils than Vincent was sure his services usually called for. The young man shrank back as he saw the dark apparition bearing down on him, but Vincent couldn't have cared less about him. Shoving the prostitute aside, he ran into the room.

It was a small but clean room, nothing more than a moderate size bed and a window through which the rising dawn could finally be seen. Cid was sitting on the window sill, smoking and staring out, wearing nothing but his cargo pants and looking tired and worn and hurt to the core of his being. He turned around, surprised, as the door flew open, but had no time to say or do anything before Vincent threw himself to his knees in front of him, clutching at Cid's waist with his long arms and buried his face against Cid's lap.

"I'm sorry Cid, I'm so sorry, so sorry, please, please take me back, I won't…I'll never hurt you again, I swear it, I'm so sorry…" he sobbed against the stiff, reluctant body. The very smell of Cid, the warmth he projected, it all helped to push the demons back, to make him more human, but with that humanity came sharper pain and despair and self-loathing. Without Cid…there would be nothing but endless darkness.

For a few, slow seconds, the world and Vincent's heartbeats stood still. Then Cid sighed, and relaxed, and Vincent felt a callused, rough skinned but gentle hand slide through his long hair.

"Vince," he said hoarsely with too many emotions. "I couldn't…What the Hell is *he* doing here?!"

The caress in Vincent's hair turned into a grip that harshly pushed him away as Cid came to his feet. Like a wounded animal, the captain roared and pointed at a wide-eyed and frightened Reno:

"I can even get it fucking *up* with a damned whore, and ya bring him along when ya want to say ya are sorry?!"

"I…Cid…" Vincent stammered, still on his knees on the floor, but dread cold stealing his words. His eyes flickered from red to yellow, but Cid seemed not to have noticed. He'd already turned back to Reno and grabbed him, pushing him against the wall. Air left Reno's longs when he was slammed against the plaster, and panicking he pushed his electric rod against Cid's chest. But Cid just grunted and tore the thing away to clatter on the floor. The pilot rose a threateningly big fist, his blue eyes a blaze with wrath and pain.

"No, Cid!" Vincent managed. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine, I'm the one you should punish!"

Cid seemed to crumble a bit and when he turned towards Vincent he whispered:

"I can't hurt ya, Vince. Ya know that. Not even now." He turned back towards Reno with a snarl. "But this punk…"

"Cid, no!" Reno managed. "I'm sorry for what I did, but don't hit me! No violence! Can't you see he's on the edge?!"

But it was too late; Cid's heavy fist hit Reno across the face, spraying blood as the lip split and the nose broke for the second time that night.

"That felt damned good." Cid let Reno go, but an inhuman – but far too familiar – snarl behind him made his hackles rise. "Oh, shit!" he mumbled as he turned around.

Where Vince had kneeled, now Chaos hovered. Dark red wings, the colour of Vincent's cloak, spread out across the room, sucking up the faint dawn light, sharp bone - white fangs glimmered in the once - human face, demon eyes glowed yellow without a trace of red. It was as if someone had drawn a demonic veil over Vincent's familiar face and body, and that made it even more horrendous. Chaos turned Vincent's bloodless lips into a cold smile.

Cid recoiled, just one step, before standing his ground.

"Get out." He growled at the now terrified Reno. "Get out, now!"

"No! We have to fight it, I'll help you…"

"This is man's business, and yer just a boy, so get the Hell out of here!"

Reno turned and fled.

"Vince? Vince, ya hear me?" Cid edged carefully closer towards the bed where his spear leaned against the wall amongst a pile of his clothes.

"Vincent isn't here, Cid." Chaos smiled. "Well, he is, but he isn't in a state to listen."

"Ya can fight it, Vince. I know ya can. Just shove the bastard back where he belongs!" Cid snarled, ignoring Chaos' words.

"Fight me? I guess he could." Chaos stepped closer, his huge wings covering the room in darkness. "If he wanted to. But he doesn't want to fight me, Cid. He just wants to cower away, to hide and snivel and cry over how this is all his fault. And you know what the beauty of it all is?" With a sudden quick motion Chaos sprang forward, grabbing Cid who had made a lounge for his weapon. But the demon was faster; it grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. A cold, slick tongue crept along Cid's neck.

"The beauty is that it is all Vincent's fault. All of this. None of us were in control when he cheated on you, Cid. In fact, we were rather surprised. Infidelity isn't really like him at all."

"I ain't talking to ya!" Cid growled, trying to pry away from the not-quite-Vincent body that pressed against him, rubbing a knee between his legs and a sharp-fanged face against his neck. "Vince, c'me on! Snap back, please! Just fight them!"

"Don't you worry," Chaos purred and started ripping at Cid's pants with the metal claw, shredding them. "We'll take just as good care of you as Vincent did. Better, in fact. Oh yes, we're all eager to ride the Highwind…"

Suddenly, the demon snarled and dropped Cid who threw himself towards his discarded things. Reno had sneaked up behind the distracted demon and stabbed at its neck with the full force of his electric rod. It would have killed an ordinary man, but Chaos just grabbed him and flung him across the room, before turning towards the far greater threat of Cid and Venus Gospel.

But Cid hadn't reached for his spear. Instead, he'd torn out a small box from his jacket pocked and ripped it open. When Chaos turned around, the pilot was down on one knee, holding something small and golden between callused fingers. He swallowed hard.

"Vince…I know ya can hear me. Please. I love ya. Will ya marry me?"

Chaos stopped dead in its tracks. The yellow eyes flared a quick red.

"I…I wanted to ask ya at the party. Feels like a million years ago, don't it? I figured with all those people around, ya wouldn't be able to say no to me…" Cid stammered, still kneeling in front of the demon, frightened and trembling, but not for fear of Chaos.

"And then I figured I'd throw it from the plane, but I couldn't, 'cause…'cause I still love ya, Vince. And I forgive ya for being drunk and stupid and all, just…just come back to me, alright? Come back and say ya'll stay with me. Will ya do that? Will ya marry me?"

Reno couldn't watch as the near-instant transformation happened, wings drawn back, fangs disappearing, humanity restored – it was all to damned freaky. But when he looked up next Vincent was laying in Cid's arms, crying but smiling, his eyes red again, and on his human hand was a flash of gold.

Reno had enough tact to leave the room as quietly as he could.

Neither he nor any other Turk was invited to the wedding a few months later, but that didn't matter.

They all showed up anyway.


End file.
